Disk motion - a new control element in high-brightness solid state laser design

Abstract

The brightness of cw and quasi cw solid state lasers of conventional designs is limited by stress fracture and uncorrectable phase aberration in thermally loaded stationary gain medium. By introducing physical motion of the gain medium as a new control element in the design of solid state lasers, we show the potential to significantly increase the brightness of cw and quasi cw solid state lasers. In this paper, we develop the design equations of rotary disk lasers and illustrate the design of a 1-kilowatt single mode Yb-YAG rotary disk laser.